All 172 units put up for sale in Cape Town’s iconic One Thibault last year have been sold with Thibault Investments in the process of welcoming the new owners to the scheme.
Situated in the heart of Cape Town’s CBD in Thibault Square, One Thibault, previously known as the BP building, was originally designed in the 1960s with a 43-degree twist on its axis to the street grid whereby every apartment has a spectacular view of Table Mountain, the V&A Waterfront or Cape Town Harbour.
In partnership with Vivid Architects, Thibault Investments have created the tallest residential development in Cape Town boasting luxury studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments and a wide range of amenities including a roof pool deck (scheduled for completion in mid-December 2022).
The ground floor upgrades have been completed with levels 15 to 20 handed over to the new owners with Wink Aparthotels welcoming their first guests this week.
Thibault Investments’ Steven Herring and Grant Elliott wish to express their thanks in particular to Flyt Property Investments and Lew Geffen Sotheby’s with 108 and 43 sales respectively.
The top three floors of apartments, with arguably the best views in the city, will come online for short-term letting in December 2022 with the remainder of the development to be finalised by April 2023.
The JSE All Property Index closed at 7 353 last night.
During the six months ended June 2022, SA’s All Property cap rate showed only a marginal change as it ended, up 10bps, to 8.3% - according to the MSCI SA Bi-Annual Property Index which tracks the performance of 1 986 independently valued property assets.
According to a report by JLL, the most recent construction activity in the industrial sector has been tenant-driven, from a logistics supply delivery overview. While there has been speculative development which has quickly been taken up, committed development units have generally exceeded 30 000m2 gross lettable area (GLA) whereas speculative units are commonly between 8 000m2 and 15 000m2. To this end, there is a marked shortage of well-located, quality stock greater than 20 000m2, according to Mieke Purnell, JLL’s Research Manager for Sub-Saharan Africa. The report also highlights that the most industrial investment activity in SA over the past two years has been related to REITs disposing of secondary or non-core assets. In 2021, industrial deal flow in SA amounted to R4.3bn, roughly half of which is allocated to prime logistics assets. While this figure does not include vacant land sales, several deals were reported during H1 2022 but in general, developers and REITs are holding on to their prime logistics warehouses as they are considered core stock that can deliver sustainable yields.
Octodec Investments published its annual results for the year ended August 2022 with its distributable income (after tax) having increased by 30% from R358.4m to R466.1m. Its board declared a final dividend of 80 cps, with a total dividend of 130 cps for the full year (FY2021: 50 cps) – a 160% increase on the prior year. The REIT also reported an increase in its residential leasing activity, resulting in significantly reduced vacancies at almost pre-Covid-19 levels, and an increase in its residential income of 7.6% year-on-year. Its LTV decreased to 39.7% from 43.2% in FY2021 with its share price having increased by 20.32% over the past year.
The JSE has extended the deadline for Fortress REIT to submit a compliant REIT declaration by the end of this month to avoid losing its REIT status. The minimum JSE listing requirements prescribes that REITs must distribute at least 75% of their distributable profits to shareholders within four months of their financial yearend, subject to the solvency and liquidity test in terms of the Companies Act. Fortress has argued that its memorandum of incorporation (MOI) prevents the payment of a distribution where distributable earnings are less than the Fortress A share distribution benchmark - the case for both its interim and final six-month periods of FY2022.
Inospace has acquired two last-mile logistics in Cape Town’s Airport Industria for R35m from a private investment fund. Acquired on a forward yield of 12%, the properties, jointly measuring 16 118m2, will be rebranded and renamed ‘Sky Works’ and ‘Fly Works’.
Michael Georgiou is stepping down from his role as CEO of Accelerate Property Fund to focus on the management and completion of the Fourways Mall. He will take up the role of a non-executive director with no managerial responsibilities. Dawid Wandrag and Abri Schneider have been appointed interim joint CEOs with effect from the 7th of November 2022.
Tenants often raise a valid defence when faced with an eviction. One such defence, ‘huur gaat voor koop’ i.e., ‘rent goes before buying’ when loosely translated, refers to a situation where a tenant may enforce the material terms of a lease agreement against the new owner of the property and the new landlord would be obligated to permit the tenant to continue occupying the property in terms of the lease agreement - he or she may not evict the tenant due to the mere fact that they have purchased the property.
Landlords – and prospective landlords – need to ascertain whether an existing lease with the current tenant is in place – or not, and what the essential terms are, says law firm, Barnard.
Furthermore, the parties to the lease need to agree that in the event of the landlord selling the property, he or she must provide a reasonable notice of termination of the lease, affording the tenant with enough opportunity to negotiate terms with the new landlord or to relocate.
